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Learn · By Ovrtone · Published

Why does my mix sound muddy?

A muddy mix usually has too much energy in the low mids, roughly 200 to 500 Hz, where guitars, keys, the body of a vocal, the bass's harmonics and the room all overlap. Each track sounds fine alone; together they pile up. The fix is to make room: high-pass what doesn't need lows, and cut the overlap on one track, not both. In Ovrtone, you can also just tell the engineer.

How do you clear it?

  1. High-pass what doesn't need lows. Vocals, guitars and keys rarely need much below 80 to 120 Hz. Rolling that off makes room for the kick and bass.
  2. Find the overlap and cut on one side. If the guitar and the vocal crowd the same low-mid area, a gentle cut (2 to 4 dB) on the guitar there lets the vocal through. Cut the track that matters less in that range, not both.
  3. Cut narrow, boost wide. Sweep a narrow boost to find the boomy spot, then turn it into a cut.
  4. Check at a moderate volume and against a reference song you like in the same style, matched in loudness.

How does Ovrtone do it?

Type "the mix sounds muddy". Ovrtone's engineer measures each track (its level, its resonances, and its tonal balance against a reference song if you give it one) and proposes the cuts as a plan. You hear before and after at the same loudness, then keep it or don't.

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